If you’re going to roundly ignore the ban on drones in America’s national parks, then indeed you deserve to lose your toy in the murky, 70C depths of a hot spring. This past weekend, a tourist crashed a drone right into Yellowstone’s iconic Grand Prismatic Spring.
The incident is under investigation, and officials hope to somehow retrieve the drone so it doesn’t upset the natural ecosystem. A drone had also crashed at Yellowstone Lake last month, and the park has noticed more and more complaints from visitors about drones. As much as drone enthusiasts like their aerial photos, I’m sure animals would prefer not to be harassed by air and hot springs would like to stay drone debris-free.
A park spokeswoman also told the AP that Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming had issued a citation for a drone that became trapped in a tree. The drone was later stolen out of the tree. Not to endorse theft, but that’s some karmic retribution, right? [Associated Press
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Picture: Grand Prismatic Spring. James St. John/Creative Commons
